Mold anchor



0. H. SELKE MOLD ANCHOR Nov. 1 1949 Filed June 9, 1948 Patented Nov. 1,1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MOLD ANCHOR Application June 9, 1948,Serial No. 31,962

1 Claim.

This invention relates to foundry practice and refers more particularlyto a means for anchoring the cope and drag, i. e. the upper and lowersections of a sand mold, against relative displacement.

In quantity production of sand castings it is customary to ram or packthe molds mechanically, and as soon as each mold has been prepared forthe pouring operation the flask is removed therefrom so that the flaskmay be used for the preparation of another mold even before the firstone has been poured. Thus only a relatively small number of flasks arerequired even though numerous molds are in use. This practice isparticularly prevalent where the prepared molds are placed upon aconveyor belt to be poured in rapid succession.

When the flask is permitted to remain around the mold until the pouringoperation is completed, lateral displacement or shifting of the copewith respect to the drag is entirely precluded by interengaging means onthe cope and drag portions of the flask. However, when the flask isremoved from the mold before the casting operation is performed the twoparts of the mold are susceptible to lateral displacement along theparting plane in the course of placement of the mold upon the conveyorbelt or as a result of bumping or joggling while the mold is being movedalong the conveyor or during the pouring operation. This susceptibilityis increased by the fact that the parting compound which is spreadbetween the cope and drag portions of the mold is designed to precludeadhesion between the sand of the cope and drag, and the possibility ofsuch displacement is further aggravated in the case of small moldsbecause the weight of the cope is not suflicient to resist shifting as aresult of bumps or jolts.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a simple andeflicient device whereby displacement or shifting of the cope withrespect to the drag along the parting plane of the mold is precluded,even though the flask has been removed from the mold elements.

Another object of this invention is to provide a device of the characterdescribed which is particularly easy to put into place when the moldelements are assembled preliminary to the pouring operation and which,by reason of its compactness, may be used with relatively small moldswithout danger of its intruding into the mold cavity.

Another object of this invention is to provide a simple device for thepurpose described which may be readily stamped from light gauge sheetmetal and thus produced in quantity at low cost.

With the above and other objects in View, which will appear as thedescription proceeds, this invention resides in the novel construction,combination and arrangement of parts substantially as hereinafterdescribed and more particularly defined by the appended claims, it beingunderstood that such changes in the precise embodiment of thehereindisclosed invention may be made as come within the scope of theclaims.

The accompanying drawing illustrates one complete example of thephysical embodiments of the invention .constructed according to the bestmode so far devised for the practical application of the principlesthereof, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective View of the cope and drag portions of a moldwhich has been prepared for pouring, with the mold anchors of thisinvention in place in the drag thereof; and

Figures 2, 3 and 4 are perspective views of three embodiments of themold anchor per se.

Referring now to the accompanying drawing in which like numeralsdesignate like parts throughout the several views, the numeral 5designates generally a sand casting mold having the usual cope portion 6and drag portion 1. Flask portions 8 and 3' surround the cope and dragrespectively and serve to retain the sand in place during the rammingoperation.

Dowel pins 9 on the drag portion 8 of the flask engage in mating wells(not shown) on the cope portion of the flask to retain the cope and dragportions assembled in proper relation to one another during the rammingoperation and again during the pouring operation if it is desired toleave the flask in place.

However, in quantity production molding work, as pointed out above, theflask is frequently removed from about the mold before the castingoperation is performed. To this end one corner of each portion of theflask is equipped with a hinge, as at 0, and the opposite corner thereofis separable and is secured with readily detachable fastening means l2.

In its simplest form the mold anchor 13 of this invention comprises astrip of relatively light material bent to substantially a Z shape asshown in Figure 3. After the ramming operation is completed and thepattern is removed from the sand, one leg I4 of the mold anchor ispressed into the sand of the drag until the center section l5 lies flatalong the parting plane. When the cope and drag portions arereassembled, the other leg I6 is pressed into the sand of the cope.

The two parts of the mold are of course guided into accurate alignmentby the engagement of the dowel pins 9 into mating wells in the copeportion of the flask, and when the flask is removed from around the moldthe anchors, by extending into the two mold portions, securely retainthe same against lateral shifting. It is of course understood that asuitable parting compound is spread over the top surface of the dragbefore the cope portion of the mold is formed.

In using the mold anchor of the Figure 3 embodiment four anchors arepreferably employed, one at each corner of the mold, so disposed thatthe plane of the legs of the anchor in any one corner is at right anglesto the plane of the legs of the anchors in the adjacent corners. In thisway a relative shift of the cope and drag portions in oppositedirections is positively prevented.

Where only two anchors can be employed the Figure 2 or Figure 4embodiment is used.

In the embodiment of the mold anchor of this invention depicted inFigure 4, each of the legs M and i6 is longitudinally crimped, as at IT,to resist displacement of the anchor in the plane of the surfaces of theleg.

In the embodiment of the mold anchor shown in Figure 2 each leg of theanchor is provided with a flange l8 which is mutually perpendicular tothe leg and to the medial portion I of the anchor. These flanges orwings l8 will positively resist any tendency toward displacement of theanchor in the plane of the main portion of its legs I6 and M.

In all embodiments of the anchor the center section I5 plays animportant part in the function of the anchor as a whole. In the firstplace, it insures that the anchor legs I4 and [6 will engage the copeand drag portions in substantially parallel relation and at right anglesto the parting planes of the cope and drag portions.

This of itself is a material aid in aligning the cope and drag portionsand overcomes an obvious defeet which would be present if mere straightstrips piercing both the cope and drag portions were employed. Inaddition, the flat central section serves as a means for utilizing theweight of the cope portion 6 to render the anchor more effective toprevent displacement.

From the foregoing description taken with the accompanying drawing itwill readily be seen that this invention provides an extremely simplebut eificient means for preventing shifting of the two parts of a sandcasting mold with respect to one another even though the flask isremoved therefrom to facilitate quantity production casting. The moldanchor of this invention is obviously extremely inexpensive in itself,and moreover can substantially reduce foundry costs by materiallyreducing scrap losses and grinding and machining costs resulting fromshifted castings in production work.

What I claim as my invention is:

A two part sand casting mold comprising: a drag portion; a cope portion;and means for pre-;

venting relative lateral shifting between said cope and drag portions,said means including a flat plate of inconsequential thickness lyingflatwise in the parting plane between the cope and drag portions, a legextending upwardly from said plate into the sand of the cope, andanother leg extending downwardly from said plate into the sand of thedrag, said legs being rigidly attached to said plate so that the weightof the cope upon the plate substantially precludes tilting of the legswithin the sand.

OTTO H. SELKE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 234,370 Hoernes Nov. 9, 1880353,624 Crow Nov. 30, 1886 628,578 Eisele July 11, 1899 826,125Steinmetz July 17, 1906 949,611 Berg Feb. 15, 1910 1,010,542 Waitt Dec.5, 1911 1,050,259 Waitt Jan. 14, 1913 1,540,551 Evans June 2, 19251,717,109 Last June 11, 1929 1,764,882 Newquist June 17, 1930 2,106,260Thumm Jan. 25, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 800,748 FranceMay 11, 1936

